Ad - The higher energy video game system

I love the TurboGrafx, I really do.
I adore this such underrated almost-unknown system.
Loads of fun games, great visuals and sounds. (in a way, closer to arcade games than the Megadrive or the SNES did later)

Here's an old commercial for the TurboGrafx 16 through the eyes of people in 1989:



Extreeeeeme!!~

VGR:Quickies Ports of Persia

As you've probably seen on the blog, I've reviewed most Prince of Persia games already. (and comics...and movies..)

But this isn't all of them yet.
During this long running franchises, most episodes have known various releases on several platforms. If most releases nowadays are pretty similar to one another it wasn't always the case "back in the ol' days".

For this occasion, I decided to make this new Quickies installement! 
To have a look at some iterations of the original Prince of Persia games by Jordan Mechner. As well as another bonus quick review.

Originally, the Prince looked like this! True story!

The original Prince of Persia, released on Macintosh and Dos systems, is regarded as a classic nowadays.
It launched a genre of more realistic platformers, sometimes referred to as "cinematic platformers".
Unlike Sonics and Marios it wasn't as surreal and was based around real physics. The acrobatic character of PoP was couldn't jump over enemies. Nor double jump. But he was able to grab ledges, roll under small passages, walk carefully to avoid setting off traps.

It was original designed by Jordan Mechner after a moderately successful Karateka.
Both titles were adapted over all of their current video game systems, countless ports. PoP even ported to this day on most consoles ever released.
Most of those ports were done by the small studio Brøderbund, who alongside Mechner took a great care keeping the games faithful and the experience similar. Yet using each system's specifics whenever the need arose.

The story is a classic now.
You play as the unnamed Prince, trying to get back to your Princess trapped by the evil Vizier.
The Prince gets thrown in the jail caves. The game is a journey, which has to take less than a real life-hour before it's too late and the sands of the giant hourglass ran off.
The directly sequel The Shadow and the Flame sees the Prince expelled from the palace and losing himself in the seas. Now wandering in another island, the Prince is castoff the palace, needs to fight back his inner demons (represented by an evil doppelganger), find his way back to the palace and clean up his name!
The sequel isn't as much puzzle/platforming oriented but a tad bit more combat focused, featuring lots of new various enemies often attacking in groups.

Now, let's dig into these games, shall we?

Title: Prince of Persia Collection
From Brøderbund Software

On PC
Type Sidescrolling platformer
Year 1999

This compilation runs on most modern computers easily.
Sometimes going by the name Prince of Persia Collection, Prince of Persia CD Collection, Prince of Persia: Collector's Edition or even Prince of Persia 1 & 2 (like mine). It was released on 1999, around the release of the 3rd game.
It contains the original Dos versions of both first games. Playing with the settings you can play the original Dos or VGA enabled versions. The music added later on by Brøderbund is available but you can also play it old school with the old chiptunes and no musical ambiance.
All the original levels are present.

Overall: Want to play the real original Prince of Persia games? This release is a must have!
Both games are fluid, fun and huge to explore. PoP2 looks more colorful and complex graphically, it even contains all its cutscenes and voices!
I said in my earlier review of PoP2 I didn't like it as much as the original, wasn't as perfect gameplay-wise, rushed, awful music and wasn't that well adjusted in its platforming sequences...but the original Dos version is far more suited to play.
Since this was released to promote PoP3D, it even contains a preview, making off (in an awfully small resolution quick time video) and a behind the scenes look at Prince of Persia 3D/Arabian Nights!

I give this one a: 3 / 3 Score!

Title: Prince of Persia
From Brøderbund Software

On SNES
Type Sidescrolling platformer
Year 1992

The SNES port of PoP1 was an enhanced version sporting all-new graphics.
It features 20 levels instead of the usual 13. Though some big edits were given to the level design.
It is also the only version were you're given 2 hours instead of the usual one hour to complete the game, making it a bit easier (even counting the extra levels).

Overall: I'm honestly not a big of this version, not because of its quality but because how different the whole game feels.
The music's good. (even if I admit I'm not a big fan of it)
There's some extra plot in this one. The graphics though are the part that suffer the most. It's just so dull and colourless..  I like the new ideas and design, adding wood here and there, putting more designs across the levels. (even splitting screens in 2 to add extra room to run around) But why's everything so brown and mushy? And the Prince looks like Vectorman, like he's composed of smaller parts/spherical objects to mimic the original game's motion capture while they designed new graphics.
Sidenote: It was censored in the US and Europe, thus my Japanese version (picture above)

I give this one a: 2 / 3 Score! 

Title: Prince of Persia
From Brøderbund Software

On Megadrive
Type Sidescrolling platformer
Year 1993

Covered in the main Prince of Persia Review.

Overall: Not playing on the SEGA side against Nintendo above. But this version is a much better and faithful version of the original game.
Like the SNES, but featuring its own original art, it also uses enhanced graphics. It even contains 4 additional levels. (but here the original levels weren't cut down or edited)
The Pal release has its share of own differences, like new kinds of potions, some that can freeze time, others give you additional minutes to complete the game...

I give this one a: 3 / 3 Score!

Title: Prince of Persia
From Brøderbund Software/Titus Software

On SNES
Type Sidescrolling platformer
Year 1996

Covered in the main Prince of Persia 2 Review.


Overall: Missing some features as well as some levels (including the actual last level!), PoP2 may not have been as good as the original, but on the SNES it's a whole different level altogether!
I blame this on the co-developer, Titus.
The music is really annoying, enduring it through this longer sequel is one heckuva challenge, at least the game features a password system to help out!
The game seems to be on speed compared to the original Apple/Dos version.
Which is quite annoying to avoid some precise traps and segments...


I give this one a: 1.5 / 3 Score! 

Title: Prince of Persia
From Brøderbund Software/Microïds

On Megadrive
Type Sidescrolling platformer
Year 1996

Covered in the main Prince of Persia 2 Review.

Overall: Like I wrote in the original review, this one wasn't actually released originally. But the game was completed anyway!
The game contains its own share of problems though. If Sega prevented its release due to quality concerns (those were the days, right? :P) it's a miracle Nintendo didn't.
Anyway, the graphics are the same as the SNES port and similar to the PC version.
But the game is buggy (around traps, like the released SNES version), the controls aren't as precise as on the computer... Try it or skip it!

I give this one a: 1.5 / 3 Score! 

Title: Prince of Persia
From Brøderbund Software

On Master System
Type Sidescrolling platformer
Year 1992

When the home console systems starting picking up in the early 90s, Prince of Persia 1 was converted to almost all systems. If some, like the NES port, were simple copy/past of the original game with lower settings, other were proper adaptations by Brøderbund.

Overall: Strangely good for an 8-bit system.
It is a lot truer to the original game in colors compared to, say, the Atari or NES port.
The game feels also pretty right, the Prince moves well if a tad bit slower. The proper physics were well implemented for such a simple system. Most cutscenes were cut down though.
The Prince was given brown hair for a change! (due to the limited color palette no doubt)
I'd say, try it if you can!
A pretty good port given the circumstances.

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score! 

Title: Prince of Persia
From Brøderbund Software/RIVERHILL SOFT 

On PC Engine
Type Sidescrolling platformer
Year 1991

CD format meant improved graphics and all-new music back then!
It's from this port that the Prince started sporting a turban and colored clothing (a green jacket!).

Overall: Pretty good. The controls feel different but the overall experience is still good.
It was based, from scratch, on the Macintosh release.
The music is pretty impressive and the new redone cutscenes look great! It evens features voice tracks!
It's the most Arabian Nights-ysh version of the game in my eyes.

I give this one a: 3 / 3 Score! 


Title: Prince of Persia
From Brøderbund Software

On Mega-CD
Type Sidescrolling platformer
Year 1992

The Sega CD version, mostly an upgrade version of the PC Engine. Reusing all its assets as basis.

Overall: This one's the one I like to call the "Prince of Persia: ANIME! Edition".
If the PC Engine version was more colorful this one's like a rainbow enhanced version of the previous one.
The Prince who was getting a lot more colorful in the previous iteration (green jacket, blue turban..) is now a fully Japanese anime character. And for good reason, the game features now (slightly) animated cutscenes!
And the worse part is that the boxart doesn't give any hint to its new direction at all.
The cutscenes are funny though. Even if out of place.
This is another one of those "on speed" versions. (like PoP2 on the SNES), even when running on 50 Hrz.
The music doesn't make good use of the Sega CD system that much...but it works in this cracked up ort.
The game itself is good, don't worry. But the over-saturation of colors and animesque Prince makes this one feel either really funny or pretty bad.

I give this one a: 2 / 3 Score! 


Title: Prince of Persia: Rival Swords 
From Ubisoft Montreal

On Wii also available on PSP
Type Sidescrolling platformed
Year 2007

And finally, you probably didn't expect it, here's the alternate release of a modern Prince of Persia. (something that tends to happen less often these days.. we usually get completely different games, not alternate editions)

I've already did a review of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within here.

Overall: Rival Swords is an upgrade/new edition of Warrior Within which saw the conclusion to the Sands of Time series.
 Rival Swords tweaks some gameplay elements of the original Warrior Within. Mostly in-combat and related to the AI of the enemies. It also fixed and changed some gameplay details and added some zones (nothing that noticeable). Before the recent HD remastered release, it was seen as the definitive version of this game.
It was released on Wii and PSP.
The Wii version doesn't bring new changes from the overall look of the Gamecube version. It could look a bit cleaner I'd say.
Though it adds the brand new motion-sensing functionality. It's all gimmick, I know.
It may be annoying in the gameplay (since the game wasn't designed around it), but the combat gets easier (probably on purpose by Ubisoft) and the instant kills are finally easy to pull off.

I give this one a: 2.5 / 3 Score!


And that is all for this time!
Of course, it's not all the versions of the original games nor all the current alterations of the recent episodes.

The original Prince of Persia as since its release been made available on almost virtually every system ever.
Phones, iPhones, Xbox, PS2, etc..
Often simple re-releases of the original game, other times remakes using the Sands of Time engine. (as the Xbox 360 port on the Xbox Live Arcade)
But most of those, besides the facelift, often uses the original game as basis and frame, keeping either the original level design of physics intact.

 

That's all for this time's Quickies!

Gamin' NEWS! HUDSON IS DEAD! LONG LIVE HUDSON!

I just learned Hudson is no more...

The end of an era.

Hudson Entertainment will be shutting down at the end of the month.
All the future games and projects they were working on were canceled.

Some of the quoted reasons have been the bad communication and collaboration between Hudson's Japanese and American divisions and the growing indie movement (which, most Hudson titles, aimed for the same audience).

And what about the Japanese house Hudson Soft? They were aquired by Konami earlier in January 2011. They will now work on some Konami adaptations and focus on social gaming.

So it is the end of an era for me.
As a fan of the Arcade titles Hudson created during the 80s and 90s and Bonk, Bomberman and the PC Engine... It is sad news for us fans :(

I didn't had any proper fanart of Bomberman I did on my hands

apart from this little pixel-art experiment.

Source: a blog announcement by brand manager Morgan Haro

VGR Bonk 2

After a heckuva long time, I decided to finally go back to one of my earlier reviews and move on the sequel of Bonk!

VGR: PC Genjin 2 a.k.a. Bonk's Revenge
From Red Company / Hudson Soft
Played on PC Engine
Also available on Game Boy, Virtual Console & PlayStation Network


Type Sidescrollin' platformer
Year 1991

Only a year after the original game's release, Hudson didn't want Bonk to take a vacation, specially with a Sonic shaking the whole gaming market and the perception of mascots' role to establish a brand.

PC Genjin 2 was also made specifically for the PC Engine system. Red was back as developers behind the Pithecanthropus Computerurus. This time, they got a better handle of the console's hardware and could start playing around a bit with the graphics (where Bonk 1 was pretty simplistic in tone and used a limited color palette).

Now, about the "plot"...

I admit it, I just luuuuuv drawing Bonk!

Bonk is back, with a revenge!
Half of the moon was stolen! Yeah, the Evil King Drool has decided to go on full-evil mad scientist this time!

Bonk will have to travel all around the Dinosaur Kingdom to find were the pieces are guarded, defeat Drool's various "generals" and put back the moon in one piece!
Yeah.
Just that.

All in a day's work!

PC Genjin 2, game-wise, was built around what the first game already was, and tried improving over all of its aspects.

Bonk still controls the same. Button 1 to jump, Button 2 to bonk!
We can play around with these two abilities to either make Bonk slam his head violently on the ground, try to hover for short distances, juggle defeated enemies, bounce from enemy to enemy, etc..
Bonk can also use some other extra-abilities from the original game as well as new techniques.
He can still climb walls with his teeth, his TEETH, man!!
Oh, and he can climb a waterfall like salmon, no kiddin'.
And many more neat little tricks that will help Bonk survive in these dangerous prehistoric times.

Bonk's dino minions come now to life in all sorts of forms!

On the visual side, it has all been improved since the first one.

The game now sports a better richer color palette.
After getting their hands on the PC Engine hardware in the first game, they were able to play around with tricks and techniques making this game a better rival to other games of that era. ('91 platformers)
Bonk isn't as red-ysh as he was in Bonk 1, now he is more pink-ysh with a nice brown coloring for his clothes.
The sprites are all quite cartoony, even expressive.
They all have a lot of various animations.
The backgrounds also aren't as simple as they were in the first game (single color backdrops) but now are quite rich featuring trees, volcanoes, animations, effects (in the volcano/hot segments), little darker shades near the ground, northern lights in sky, etc...

The best upgrade has been on the enemy's side.
We still confront various brainwashed dinos by King Drool with Egg Shells(TM).  But now they all come to life with a ton of variations in their sprites.
You'll often find them playing around, sleeping, fishingm, wearing scarfs making snowmen...and they also come in all sorts of genres; Hunting/Safari fashion, wearing spelunker clothes, with climbing gear...etc!
A precursor of what the more famous apes from Ape Escape would do years later?

Bonk - Transformation, GO!!

Bonk's gimmick, apart from his headbonking around, is his transformations.
Remember the first game's mechanic?
Well, it's still mostly the same..
Bonk uses food to replenish his health.
Small items restore his hearts. A huge piece of meat will upgrade Bonk into his fully-powerful invincible form or his intermediary girly form. (the middle zoku-form has been scrapped)
They've been a bit tweaked around.
The invicible form loses its invicible aura after a while. It shakes the level around, can destory everything on its path and shoot fire from his mouth.
The girl form can now projects hearts and uses an heart-shapped super-aura while headbonking the ground.
Basically, it's a bit stronger compared to what it was in Bonk 1, to balance out both super-form stats.

This time the boss are full-time King Drool employees, no more brainwashed nice dinos!

Bonk will have to travel all over the island to retrieve the pieces of the moon and defeat various mid-bosses and bosses.
King Drool is back as the final epic boss.


On the island you'll go through a lot more varied places than last time, and using more distinct level design, such as a forest, jungles, the beach, snowy mountains, volcanic caves, a giant battleship... until Bonk arrives in King Drool's domain. There he'll be able to find the rest of the moon... put back as part of his royal pyramide!!
All over 7 Rounds, pretty long enough and containing several "screens".
At the end, in the pyramide, all the bosses (!!) will need to be faced again!
(which doesn't come as a surprise since mid-bosses will also appear in-levels, weaker of course)

Bonk still collects smiley-items as currency.
Also the bonus stages are back, although less original than last time. This time it's more basic, collecting items falling from the sky/without falling off the stage/etc.. It doesn't play as much with the game's concept and premises. (Bonk one offered "baseball", comets-ricochet, etc..)

All in all, it's another exemple of a perfect sequel.
Keeping the original as basis, improving every aspect of it (the music is even more catchy this time and a bit more memorable than Bonk 1's soundtrack honestly) and offering more new and interesting challengs!

Overall, it's a great sequel!
Fun without being too easy, funny without ending up without charm, not too long not too short.
Not too difficult either.
It's quite simple to go through this one without losing to many lives (apart when the game will throw a new enemy/pattern at ya!)

A great platformer of the 8/16-bit era.
And for an 8-bit game, it doesn't have to shy away amongst 16-bit of that tme, it looks decent enough!
I've seen worse SNES/MD games from the platformer-craze of the 90s!

I personally prefered it over Bonk 1, and it's only sad that the PC Engine was totally overseen back then.
Gems such as the Bonk series truly shined as some of the system's best (perhaps not the more original...), and we didn't even scratch the surface of the PC Engine's greatest titles.

Anyway, it's easy to get your hands on nowadays, with digital re-releases.
Give it a try, specially if you like retro-gaming/platformers!
However avoid the Game Boy port, not done by Red! It's a mess, mixes around elements from Bonk 1 & 2 with a less inspired level designed (which was sort-of adapted).

I give it:

 2.5 / 3 Bruces!

VGR Splatterhouse

Are you ready for some gory, violent, brutal old school beat 'em all action?!?
Are you ready for the Splatterhouse!?

In case you missed it, I've recently posted the Japanese manga and the American comic page telling Splatterhouse's plot.

VGR: Splatterhouse
From Namco
Played on PC Engine DUO
Also available on Arcades, FM Towns, PC & Virtual Console

Type Sidescrollin' beat 'em all
Year 1988/90

Aaaahh, Splatterhouse!
Who doesn't love Splatterhouse? Or more importantly, who doesn't know Splatterhouse?
What? You want me to tell you more about Splatterhouse? Alright-y!

It all started started with two kids and a "welcoming" house in the middle of nowhere...

Splatterhouse is an arcade beat'em all created by Namco in the late 80s.
It's you typical sidescroller/beat 'em all. Lots of enemies to defeat, big ugly bosses at the end and around ten level longs.

The little twist, Splatterhouse's particularity, was in the execution. It was very gory, bloody and violent.
Like watching a John Carpenter movie, only in gaming. For the 1980s that was something pretty new! Even the later Mortal Kombat games didn't achieve the same kind of violence. This wasn't cartoony, this was like watching a slasher...

Splatterhouse was ported to the PC Engine, the version which I'm reviewing here. It was pretty faithful and only lost some minor details and colors in the background. And as the HuCard tells us, it's an 8 bit game, which makes it all more impressive seing how colorful the game looks!

I'm a MAAAAAN!!~

The game has a little story, as the bits of merchandising here and there try to tell us.
Rick and Jennifer, our game's main character had to hide in the West Mansion. They were trying to find a certain Dr. West who's been making some pretty weird experiments in his basement.
As soon as they sat foot in the mansion monsters attacked them.... Jennifer was captured and Rick was left behind, dead...
So it seems!
Rick later woke up...alive?! How can this be??
The Terror Mask resurrected Rick! Stronger...with a taste for blood...now Rick wants payback! And to find Jennifer!

You play as Rick.
Thanks to the Terror Mask, he's now stronger and can punch any creature to death with his giant fists, his powerful arms and can also jump-kicks monster's faces!!

Tons of different kind of monsters, lots of terrifying bosses...

Everybody will try to kill you in this mansion!!

You guessed it, it's not very serious... but works great for this kind of game!
It's like a slasher....in fact, there's a lot of references to various horror and slasher movies!
The whole plot is pretty similar to that of Evil Dead 1 & 2, our hero is kinda similar to Jason from Friday the 13th, there's bits of The Thing, A Nightmare on Elm Streets, Poltergeist, The Exorcist, and many more...

The game is a veritable tribute to the genre!

The music is specially good, pretty similar to what you'd hear in horror/thriller flicks... There's some very catchy and memorable tunes to be found in this game.
(note that the ending theme is...strangely different from the rest... the games end on a happy/sad melody which is kinda funny to hear after defeating the last boss!)

"Biggy Man", the man, the legend...

Being an 8 bit beat'em all, despite it's wonderful presentation, the game is pretty basic in its gameplay.
There's no 3D movements on the plane (as in Streets of Rage), you go from left to right.
There's some light platforming elements (jumping to avoid enemies, holes, spikes and traps).
Rick can only punch (or kick) in one way, and crounch or jump to alter it.
The enemies can be annoying sometimes...and use patterns you better learn quick!
The game is ~7 level longs with multiple screens. There's some forced sidescrolling.

The main meat of the game is the boss fights. Very original and they will always surprise you!
A poltergeist boss, an exorcist-like fake Jennifer to fight, Rick's mirror image,the famous Biggy Man - a chainsway wielding Jason-from-Friday.The-13th-part2-like monster (my favorite one!)...

The other main feature of the game is the weapons you'll encounter and be able to use.
From simple pieces of wood to knives, clubs, bats and even a shotgun!
It's very fun to punch monsters to death but sometimes a good hit with a bat will be more effective.

Victorious, Rick walks off the mansion...but at what price?...

The story is told through animated cutscenes using the game's models. Yes, like in Sonic 3.
The situation or action speak from themselves.
Rick is trying to find Jennifer... find her at some point...but it's too late, isn't it?
Tracks down the source of all evil inside the house... the background goes from the mansion to something more organic, hellish...
The Terror Mask helps Rick awake the "source"... you defeat it... and...?

The story kind of goes into a "to be continued"....
Exactly as in slashers, there's a sort of cliffhanger/unresolved ending at the end (think any Jason or Freddy movie). It will be continued in Splatterhouse Part 2...

This game was one of the first games to require a sort of "parental advisory warning" on the box. Which would later evolve into our current ratings.

It's gory, but it's very fun. Even if you're not a big fan of the movie genre, chances are you'll enjoy this very messy house cleaning.
It was from a time when Namco wasn't the huge popular brand and tried to compete against the such as Capcom or Konami. And they tried real hard to produce such quality title! The music seems pretty much inspired by those brands (albeit in a more horror/suspenseful genre)
The gameplay is very simple, but like I said, it wasn't a 16-bit game!

Overall, this is a classic hit from the arcades in a wonderful home system port!
The game only uses two buttons and looks & sounds fantastic on a little HuCard!

Splatterhouse is a difficult and very fun beat'em all. Sure, it doesn't have the same depth or class as a Streets of Rage or Comix Zone.. but it got the attitude!

The first Splatterhouse may lacks some of the sequels attributes but it's a great place to start!

It was ported to the Virtual Console...but... it is the American version. What about the American version?
This US version on the TurboGrafx-16 (as the PC Engine was known in America) was very highly edited!!
It's less gory... Was censored... And changed many visual elements...
The Terror Mask, which was mostly a white hockey mask in Splatterhouse Part 1, was edited into a red-like mask with black spots...Which is pretty stupid in my eye and loses connections to the next Splatterhouse games (where the Terror Mask continues to evolve into a more skull-like appearance while it awakens).
Also meat-like objects were edited into generic objects, creatures bleed less, a chapel where Rick founds a crucifix was turned into a random hallway with Jennifer scream edited out, an "inverted cross" boss with floating hellish heads was taken out and a new enemy was created instead, a "womb boss" was heavily edited, etc...
The "uncensored" arcade or japanese PC Engine version wasn't released (at least for the moment) on the Virtual Console nor Xbox live...

Anyway, I really recommend to try this game, at least once!
Fun, addictive, difficult (it took me several tries to finally be able to see the ending, and the credits do run out pretty fast)... if you got a PC Engine, give it a try!

I give it:

 2 / 3 Invaders!

My Fighting Games Collection!

Hello folks!
Today, I wanted to post a pic of my fighting game collection, since I've been posting so much about the "fighting genre".
Collection as of today - pic taken July the 1st 2010~

This is here is my current collection of Fighting Games!
I'm a big fan of arcad-ysh games, and the fighting genre is one of my favs.
It's always fun to put on one of these with friends, my bro or just kick the ass of the CPU for a while whenever you want to blow off some steam.

I don't store non-arcady "kiddie" brawlers such games as Smash Bros, the Godzilla fighting games or DBZ games here, no sir! Not dishing those, but they'll be out of place in here!
Only the REAL fighters!

You can't really see everything from this pic :/
But this will give you an idea-
I'm kinda too lazy to list them all... so here goes... (click to see a bigger pic)

On the top shelf:
I have all the Mortal Kombats games (who are a bit underrated nowadays but are still pretty fun), one of the Read2Rumble (probably the best one, since the new one on Wii was so-so...), all Guilty Gears, all the Virtua Fighters+Fighting Vipers+Fighter Megamix (the Sega crossover), the complete Tekken & Soul series, the DoA games.

I have most Fightin' game-adaptations on DVD... (the less said about it the better..)

At the bottom_
Most, if not all, Snk & Capcom fighting games! I'm quite proud of that : P
My great collection^^
The Street fighter series, all the Vampire/Darkstalker games, the other 2D or 3D Capcom games (Rival School, Plasma sword...).
And the SNK ones. I'm a HUGE fan of SNK!
All the KoF games, Garou (that's the Fatal Fury games), the Last Blade games... Samurai Spirits, Art of Fighting & World Heroes games. And even the very underrated awesome SNK-collaborations, the 3 Sunsoft fighting games.

Most of my collection is on Pal format for the Mega Drive/Xbox/X360/Wii/Gamecube. (with excepetions...)
Only on Jap for the PS1/PS2.
And mix Pal/US/Jap for the Saturn & Dreamcast.

That's it!
(I'll try putting some review, comment or views on some of those titles~)

Sega Mascots 02: Opa Opa

Here's another look at a past Sega Mascots. This time, it's Opa Opa's turn!

 

OPA OPA

Opa Opa comes from the Fantasy Zone series, another Arcade classic.

SEGA Arcade Mascot: 1985-200x

Opa Opa first appeard in a little cult arcade game called Fantasy Zone, released in 1985.
The game was ported on several systems officially such as the (most well known and liked) Master System, the MSX, the PC Engine...
And even some pirate ports like the pretty bad Nintendo port by Tengen.
The game was basically a shoot 'em up, but with a friendlier and more colorful aspect compared to other such type of games at the time (R-Type, etc..).
A cute 'em up as fans call those type of game.
It was pretty original in one aspect, the level wasn't scrolling as usually with vertical or horizontal shooters. In fact the player was allowed to explore a little zone from left to right from top to bottom, collecting coins to buy power-ups and killing a certain number of enemies.
Then, the boss of the level appears, defeat the guy (who usually would occupy most of the screen) and move on to the next stage!

Here's a little video for you:

 

The game became a little cult fan favorite.
So naturally Fantasy Zone had sequels and even spin-off games!
The Master System port (1986) was followed by a another Master System sequel (Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa - 1987) and then by a Megadrive sequel (Super Fantasy Zone - 1992).

2 Spinoff titles were made.
Fantasy Zone: The Maze in 1987 (also simply called Opa Opa) a puzzle game not very far from Pengo/Bomberman.
And a simplistic arcade gimmick-y game called Galactic Protector (1988) which was made to use and sell a new controller.

There also was a Game Gear original game called Fantasy Zone Gear: The Adventures of Opa-Opa Jr in 1986.
Hudson tried to make a Fantasy Zone/Space Harrier crossover. Space Fantasy Zone. But they weren't able to get SEGA's right, so it was unreleased (even if a Gold release almost finished is easy to find on the web, I "have" the unreleased game and made a material copy for the PC Engine, did the cover art for the CD case, etc..)




Nevertheless, Opa Opa stayed Sega's arcade mascot until at least the years 2000s.
Always associated with Sega's image on the arcade scene for a very long time but finally began to disappear during the Dreamcast and post-Dreamcast era...

The last we've seen of him after the arcade perfect port on the Sega Saturn was a PS2 3D remake under the Sega Ages brand.
And finally, Opa's last "real" appearance on a console was the PS2 Fantasy Zone Complete Collection (2008 - only available in Jap).
A compilation containing all the previous games under many versions such as the Arcade, the Master System, etc..
Fantasy Zone 2, which was a Master System exclusive, even got an "arcade port" in this collection, a beautiful looking remake!

You'll see it only once, here's the complete series (not counting Fantasy Zone 1 various non-Sega ports)

Opa Opa stayed a cute and cult Sega mascot, even alongside other future mascots.
Because of that he scored many cameos outside the Fantasy Zone saga.
Such as the anime Zillion (co-produced by Sega), in Phantasy Star Online/Universe/and Portable games, Sonic Riders, Planet Harrier, Shenmue... to his last recent appearance as a playable (!!) character in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing!

Opa Opa. A zone, some fantasy and a dream to be the greatest mascot ever.

This epic little guy had to share some screentime, most of the 80s, with a newbie who wanted to become the definitive Sega mascot...

To Be Continued...

VGR Street Fighter 1 aka Fighting Street

Kickin' off my FIGHTING MARATHON Reviews, here come the very first Street Fighter game!

What is Fighting Street? Did it age well?
More on that and the review itself right here...

VGR: Fighting Street a.k.a. Street Fighter 1
From Capcom
Played on PC Engine DUO (known as the Turbografx in the USA)

Type Fighting game
Year 1988

Street Fighter, now this is a classic cult well known, well loved gaming franchise!
For most gamers, you say Street Fighter, they think immediatly Street Fighter 2 on the Snes or MD. (depending on which side of the 16 bit era they were)
Then, you have SF fans or hardcore gamers, those will want to pick a Street Fighter Alpha/Zero game or a Street Fighter III. And finally you have the new, younger, modern gamers. They will probably assimiliate SF with the current Street Fighter 4 game.
So, you'll ask me, what about the original first Street Fighter game?

The answer is simple.
Street Fighter 1 was a nice enough game, some older gamers who grew up during the 80s may even remember it, but it wasn't that effective and didn't let that a mark on gaming history.
Maybe also because of his younger brother, Street Fighter 2, which came out later on and surpassed it in many aspects.

But, some of you may already know me by now, I like to give a chance to the underdog and appreciate it for what it is and not how people perceive it in the end.

Here comes a lone challenger!!

Street Fighter came out in the arcades around a summer in 1987.
It was a brand new fighting game from Capcom, a genre that wasn't very successful druing the 80s.
I'll remind you that we were in the middle of the 8 Bit era.
In gaming, there was a first generation of 8 Bit systems such as the Atari, the Odyssey, the Amiga, the Sega SG-1000, the Amstrad and the Commodore. And then, with better graphics and music capabilites there were the Nintendo and the Master System (and some other ones).
On the home systems, platforming was were it was at, while at the Arcades, more energic space shooters were the king. Sure there was the odd game here and there, such as puzzles and others, but that was it.

The fighting genre was only starting, but wasn't really winning the audiences.
There were some nice debuts such as Kung Fu or Karaté Champ. But the genre didn't really pick up.

Capcom's debut in the genre, Street Fighter, was a pretty simple but very important entry for fighting games.
Where older attempts didn't really use "characters" (since they were simpler), Street Fighter was made around its characters.

As in the other fighters of its time, you have only one character, not selectable (that only appear later on).
You play as RYU. The template of the "tournament" was based on beat 'em all of that era.
You have 4 countries to choose from. There you'll fight one champion and then a boss.
In the end, you unlock a 5th region with a sub-boss and the final boss, after that Credits-Game Over-Congratulations you beat the game!

Easy!
And unique for its time!

The scar Ryu inflicts to Sagat in the final stage would be left forever on future SF games.

The game introduced super attacks to perform using special techniques (the now classic HADOKEN nad SHORYUKEN) which are still input the same nowadays.
A second player could join in the same cabinet, he would then play a similar "clone" character, KEN.
(winning with KEN would allow to continue the 1-player mode with Ken, nice trick back then...)

The only problem for this whole concept, was its era.
It feels a bit rigid by today's standards
But a retro gamer (such as yours truly) or someone who played at least once on a Nes will not have that much problem.

The game wasn't very colorful nor were the sounds, music and digits pretty well rendered on the arcade, a limitation imposed by its time.

The game was then ported to most systems capable of handling SF1. But the home systems were pretty limited compared to an Arcade system.
Thankfully the PC Engine was an hybrid 8 bit (the Hucards)/16 bit (the CD upgrade) system...
Street Fighter was renamed for an unknown reason Fighting Street on this console, but sadly it didn't use its 16 bit capabilities, and the game wasn't upgraded. Which can also be a good news now, if you want to enjoy SF1 as it was made originally.
The port was the best of the bunch, it was pretty close to the arcade, a bit more colorful a rearranged soundtrack was for the CD but the original sounds, FX and voice digits weren't upgraded... so they sound a bit silly, in typical 80s japanese Engrish. But it kinda adds to SF1 original charm. It's a product from a whole different era.

The soundtrack is pretty on par with later SF music, be it Alpha or SF3, a nice touch for this PC engine port.

My favorite part of SF1? The message you get when you defeat or are defeated by an adversary. Priceless.

Fighting Street came out and went by pretty unnoticed but it was a major evolution for us fightin' fans.
It created the whole sub-boss and final boss aspect of a 1-player mode for the genre.
It simply made all the conventions made standard in future fighting games, such as that kind of techniques to use or the HUD aspect (life bars, timing, rounds win... the whole presentation inspired future games).

And Street Fighter 2 wouldn't simply be what it is without Street Fighter 1!

Street Fighter 1 is limited compared to any other coming fighting game, but it still is a fantastic 8 bit well crafted game!
Most details in SF1 came out in future SF games, or were redesigned.
Energy bars were implemented in later games for the special attacks, when they became more and more essential to win.
Bonus Stages were already present in Street Fighter, such as the one pictured in the screens I've put at the bottom of this review. They were pretty simplistic and had Ryu break stuff. (2 different Special Stages which are simple button mashing challenges). They would be redesigned using the game engine in later SF games, but they also inspired Bonus stages for other fighting franchises, like Mortal Kombat's Test you Might!
Ryu and Ken (the Player-2 default character) stayed the main characters through the SF franchise and bit by bit became unique different characters and not just palette swaps.

In this game Ryu was up against many world champions such as:
- Retsu and Geki in Japan. In SF3, Ibuki is a ninja from the same clan as Geki.
- Joe and Mike for the United States. Mike who is best known as Balrog in Street Fighter 2, yes that guy. In this game he was still called Mike as a parody of Mike Tyson. Then in the japanese SF2 he was called Mike Bison. But in the releases outside Japan, they swaped some names, between Bison, Vega and Balrog to avoid copyright issues...
- In China, Lee and Gen. Gen would be reintroduced as a mentor for Chun Li in Street Fighter Alpha.
- From England, Birdie and Eagle. Birdie came back in Street Fighter Alpha as well.
- At last in Thailand, the sub-boss was Adon and his mentor Sagat, the final boss. All Street Fighter fans remember Sagat from SF2 of course. And Adon was back in SF Alpha as well and had an explosive appearance in SSF4!

Finally, something I wouldn't dare not to include in this.
Keiji Inafune, best known as the creator and designer of Megaman started at Capcom with this game.
He made the characters artworks and ingame portraits!

Overall, Fighting Street, as it is known on the PC Engine, or Street Fighter 1 is a fantastic classic 8 Bit game!
It may not shine as much as Street Fighter 2, specially in some fanboys' heart (fanboys... how I despise you..),
but it should be totally left forgotten or thrown away!

It made all our fighting game conventions and was really original for its time!
I, for one, will always like playing this one, from time to time, just for fun.
I always find the experience quite unique and fresh.

I recommand it, if you like the genre or not, to check it.
It is neat to know where things you play so often came from. And at least from the historic point of view.

Street Fighter 1 made what other fighting games of the 80s weren't able to, it made fighting character!
Every character has his techniques, his music, his own stage!
You may be only able to play as Ryu (or Ken!) but the whole experience is what imposed Street Fighter as the definitive fighting franchise!

 I give it:

 

 2 / 3 BonusKun!